Stakeknife ‘is not in army custody’

THE alleged IRA agent known as Stakeknife, who categorically denies working for British military intelligence, is not in the custody of the army, the Minister of Defence claimed yesterday.

As a lawyer for Freddie Scappaticci, 45, from west Belfast, insisted he had never been an informer or had contact with the intelligence services, an MoD spokesman said he was not with them.

Security sources said police and troops had been involved in an operation to move him out of Belfast early on Sunday, but confusion about his whereabouts, and his codename, deepened yesterday.